You see, I have been inspiring and motivating on this blog for nearly five years now. And, folks have been very receptive and kind. However, I sort of niche'd myself into a select group with my blog name. This is actually okay, considering that I first created this blog with one intention - I wanted to help others dealing with HIV and AIDS by showing them how I've successfully managed to live this long. I created "The Secret" for this very reason. The whole idea was to have a website where I could publish articles on my trials and tribulations. And, how I've survived despite having HIV. Here we are nearly five years later (I started this blog on Friday the 13th in February of 2009) and I have not only accomplished my goal, but created a wonderful timeline of life events and stories at the same time.

It is with mixed emotions that I officially close down this blog and transfer over to my new one. But, I promise to give you every bit as much inspiration and motivation at my new one (perhaps more!)

I will continue to keep this blog up and available, because it is jam packed with useful information and stories. And, I will continue to monitor it for comments and be responsive. However, I'm not planning on posting any major articles. If something changes with my HIV or with HIV in general I will be sure to put it up here.

Also, I am compiling all of the "secret" articles from here and building a free ebook that I will publish in PDF format.

Please drop by my new blog Healthy Wealthy Tribe and chime-in on my inspirational posts there. You can also subscribe to be on my email list at my new blog and make sure you never miss one of my diatribes!

Father's Day was a special treat this year. My children are getting older and finally grasping what these holidays mean. I got lots of love and some wonderful homemade cards among other things. Despite all of these creative gifts and tons of love, I believe that the greatest gift I received was an eye-opening experience about parenting.

Earvin "Magic" Johnson, Jr. (born August 14, 1959) announced that he was HIV+ back in November of 1991. That is nearly twenty-two years ago!! So I ask again, What's the magic with Magic?

There is much speculation surrounding the question of why Magic Johnson (and many like him) have successfully stayed alive despite this death sentence. And, I believe that you can find a direct connection in [...]

Rome was not built in a day. Like the Romans, you are creating something that will take incredible amounts of time and effort. You are working on yourself. Making you a smarter, stronger, wiser, healthier, more loving, believing, hard working, patient, and understanding person takes time. You absolutely can improve yourself in a day. You absolutely cannot create your ultimate desired outcome for yourself in a day.

As I've said in plenty of previous posts, kaizen is a Japanese philosophy that essentially [...]

I have heard people from time-to-time say things like, "Workout, eat healthy, and die anyway." Or they might ask, "Don't you think that working out is a waste of time you could better utilize?" I have thought long and hard about these kind of naysayers. I've drawn my own conclusion that I decided to share.

Last year I exercised for 155.5 hours. This year I anticipate beating that number. So ... Was that time that I could have used for something else? The answer isn't a simple yes or no. You see, by working out (properly) you do things to your [...]

Cracking open Steve Jobs' biography, Steve Jobs, by Walter Isaacson, I was instantly mesmerized and couldn't stop reading it. The book covers the entire life of one of my idols, Steve Jobs. A second idol, who impacted me just as much as Steve, was Arnold Schwarzenegger. Fortunately for me [...]

Time to tackle another writing article. Since creating the "On Writing" section in my blog I have really had a blast sharing my experiences with all of you. Being an author is one area that I sincerely enjoy discussing, and many of you ask me questions about these kind of things. So ... Here goes-

Apple Computer wanted John Sculley to join them as CEO and apply his marketing skills to the personal computer market. Sculley was not sure that he wanted to join Apple and Steve Jobs sealed the deal when he made his legendary pitch to John, "Do you want to [...]

Every year most of us come up with a list of resolutions to accomplish during the new year. I did some research and found several surveys that list the top ten resolutions that folks choose. I took the liberty of compiling my own list based on several lists I found. These appear to be the most important [...]

In circa 1973, Frank Zappa released a song about television. This song, I Am the Slime (Oozing Out of Your TV Set), tells a tale of how bad TV can be ... Well, I often think of this song with a futuristic slant on it. I think in the 90's you could have replaced TV with video games. Nowadays you might be able to say the same thing about the Facebook. To me, it is a necessary evil ... Yet I also think its the slime oozing out of our computers.

I was inspired by my friend, Susan Kim, to write about how easy (literally) it is to write your first novel. We were talking about writing and the ups and downs of it when it occurred to me that the majority of people I know dream of writing a book and yet fewer than 5% of them have actually done it. So, as I was taking my Scottish shower (see my earlier blog post for this most energizing and creative way to [...]

Did you know that the total U.S. credit card debt is nearly $800,000,000,000. Yes, that is 800 billion!! That means that the average credit card debt per U.S. household is close to $16,000. Average household debt (credit cards and loans) is $54,000. More than 50% of Americans carried an unpaid balance on their credit cards from 2011 to 2012. I imagine this number is only growing.

The year is about to come to a close. And, unless the Mayan calendar thingy is right, we will have all of 2013 to make all of those changes that we tried to do last year ... And the year before ... And [...]

I thought about titling this article, ”A Look at Why Some People Thrive, and Others Do Not.” However, that seemed a bit wordy, unclassy, and simply pompous … Talking about frogs on the other hand is fun, goofy, and downright cool. So … The title is what it is. I’m sure everyone knows how to boil a frog, but I will waste one minute and explain it … You boil a frog by slowly [...]

i'm sitting in an irish pub. this is where the magic happens... i have made friends here. i have a writing group meeting here every week where i can find support and give support in the creation of the art of writing. the guinness flows freely, and the indian bartender vish makes the very best tanqueray martini i've ever had.

i left work this evening, knowing i'd head to gettysburg to meet with my [...]

Sometimes life does throw decreasing radius curves at us. I suppose before I dive into today's lesson, I should first explain this mythical curve to those of you who have no idea what a decreasing radius curve actually is. Most of you can simply guess based on the name alone. But I will take a moment and clarify so we are all on the same page.

This article might or might not be what you expected when reading the title. Essentially I was thinking about how we humans use diversionary thoughts and practices to avoid facing the tough challenges we tackle in everyday life. Sometimes this strategy is on purpose and sometimes it is subconscious and we have no control over it. Even more important is [...]

Since my book, Survivor, has come out, I have been asked a plethora of times what the process was, how long it took, and how I did it. So, I decided to create a blog article to detail what made me decide to self publish, the steps I went through, the pitfalls, my struggles, cost, and of course, how long the entire publishing thing took.

Let's go back to the beginning to really get this post kicked off properly ... In 1986 I was diagnosed with [...]

The title is a bit ominous, but I honestly believe it's true! And, I'm not the only one. There are literally thousands of studies that show (and prove) that stress damages and deteriorates the immune system.

Stress and related issues is such an important topic to me that I've [...]

My dad taught me countless things. On a daily basis I relate more than a dozen things that I do that came directly from his teachings. He helped me to mold the base of loyalty and creativity that became the grown up me. Among the manifold things he guided me on, he impressed three things into me more than anything else. Those three things [...]